The title of my blog comes from one of my favorite hymns, Charles Wesley's "Love divine, all loves excelling." The last verse of the hymn concludes with these words, "Changed from glory into glory, 'til in heaven we take our place, 'til we cast our crowns before thee, lost in wonder, love and praise." My blog contains occasional reflections on life, the process of being changed from glory into glory.

Sunday, June 29, 2014

Grief, Grace, and Gratitude

What follows is the text of the letter sent to all active members of Two Saints such that by this morning (Sunday, June 29) almost everyone knew of my decision to resign as rector of this great parish. My last Sunday will be July 27, 2014, with a Farewell Celebration on Saturday, August 2 at 5 pm to which all are welcome.

The
Nativity of St. John the Baptist

June
24, 2014

My
sisters and brothers at Two Saints,

This letter is to announce my resignation
as your rector due to my continued health issues. Know that I do this for my own sake, but also
that of the parish. It is heartbreaking
for me to leave you. I love you deeply,
and will continue to do so, but I cannot in all honesty give you the level of
leadership you need.

Over the past four months I have had
to come to terms with the fact that, although I have significant gifts to give
to parish ministry, I also have limitations.
The latter statement may seem to some of you that I am giving up the
struggle against my illness, but that is very far from the case. The reality is that in order to live with bipolar
disease (and living with it is my only option), I must do so from a position of
honesty and clear-headedness.

I have loved my time as your rector,
and I believe with all my heart that we were called to work together, and, in
doing so, have, by the grace of God, accomplished much. I admit that I have made mistakes along the
way, and to those of you who have been on the short end of those mistakes, I
offer my profound apology. But overall I
rejoice in our time together and am grateful to God not only for my ministry with
you, but also your ministry to me.
Ironically, the depth of our relationship has been one of the factors in
giving me the courage to do what I must do.

It is human nature to attempt to
find out what or who is “to blame” when something unexpected like this
happens. I want you to know that the
factors that led to this point are many, and no single one of them is to
blame. Assigning blame will not get you
or me anywhere positive. And such, I
trust I have taught you consistently, is not the way of God with us.

As I leave the accomplishments with
which I am most pleased are four in number:

vI do believe we moved beyond the “merger period” and
into a future-oriented sense of purpose and mission. In doing so we loved each other across many
lines of difference, and maintained, if not increased, our witness to the
church and the world that inclusiveness is a deeply gospel value.

vI believe we took great steps in empowering our
members for ministry both within and beyond the church, including changing the
climate of vestry such that members were more willing to serve and happier
doing so, increasing formation opportunities such as Education for Ministry,
and taking steps to be more inclusive of children in our overall life as a
parish.

vWe have worked with our building to make it more
accessible and flexible which is vitally important for our future. We have done so not instead of mission but in
order to enable it.

vWe proved to ourselves that we could get a handle on
parish finances, reduce dependence on endowment and increase our level of
personal stewardship. And these things
were accomplished, I believe, not out of guilt, but out of a strong commitment
to the parish’s future.

At this point I do not know precisely what is next,
but Bishop Singh, Canon Cicora, and I are in conversation about what form of
ministry could use my gifts while providing a setting that also is realistic in
terms of my limitations. I ask your
prayers. You will remain in mine always. The Vestry and I will announce soon the
schedule of my departure. I do plan on
being with you at the Altar for the next five Sundays at least.

Glory to God, whose power working in us can do more
than we can ask or imagine. Glory to God
from generation to generation in the Church, and in Christ Jesus for ever and
ever.

I am, and always will be, yours in
the love of Jesus and the communion of the Holy Spirit,

Blessings to you in the coming weeks and as you continue to do ministry and keep your health in balance. Day by day it will happen and you WILL find a successful path for living g with it. -Will Westerfield, Eastern MI

I wept as I read your resignation letter. We remember your service with St Andrew's with great love and fondness. We have spoken of you and John many, many times. May you feel the strength and peace that only our Lord can provide as the both of you embark on this new journey together.